Counting the Poor in India: Where Do We Stand

There has been a considerable amount of debate on how to measure poverty. To review and take a fresh look at the methodology for measurements of poverty, the Government of India appointed an Expert Group (Rangarajan Committee) in June 2012. This book contains the Report of the Expert Group and four other articles which were written subsequently to explain some of the issues that were raised after the publication of the Report. One should choose that poverty line which reflects a carefully calculated minimum level of food and non food requirements. Rangarajan Committee computed a fresh basket in the light of the most recently available minimum requirements of food. It did not simply update an earlier basket using price indices. Also for the first time, minimum non-food requirements for certain categories were included in determining the basket. The four papers of the book discusses various issues on poverty measurement including comparison of Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, estimates of poverty using different cut-off points and the impact of public expenditure on health and education on poverty. …